


It Was Quiet

by ShaunMurphy (whoopsydaisie)



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, i tried to be poetic idk, this is so short yikes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 00:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13376769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoopsydaisie/pseuds/ShaunMurphy
Summary: The day they left.





	It Was Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> I love Shaun and this something I wrote on the fly.

It was quiet. 

 

The night Steve and Shaun left their home forever, the day the final straw was pulled. Perhaps it should have been louder; perhaps there should have been yelling or at least an argument. That was not the case, however, and both brothers slipped through their front door with one last nod to their mother before disappearing into the night. There was no protest to be heard, only silent resignation that somehow managed to be louder than their father in his worst temper. Their mother was quiet even as her eyes watered and her heart ached because heaven knows these boys deserved a little peace and quiet and heaven knows she was incapable of giving it to them.

 

It was peaceful.

 

There in the abandoned bus where Steve and Shaun sat in companionable silence. A few birds chirped outside but other than some sounds of nature, the bus was silent. It may have been unnerving to an outsider to see two boys, much too quiet for their age, simply sitting there. One flipped through the pages of a well worn book while the other ate a granola bar quietly. It was peaceful and it still felt quiet when Shaun, finally settling on a page, let out a slow breath and began softly reading out loud from the book.

 

It was loud.

 

Shaun logically knew no one but him could hear his heart pounding wildly in his chest as his younger brother hit the ground, but it still surprised him slightly when the world didn't stop turning, because his certainly had. The other kids ran around and around, eventually circling Steve's body, and the noise was too much. There was yelling and crying and footsteps and people setting things down and bumping into each other and Shaun had to get away. About twenty feet out the door he realized that he knew where he could get some help and quiet and before he knew what he was doing, he was running to Aaron Glassman's home.

 

It was deafening.

 

When Dr. Glassman insisted Shaun needed a therapist no matter how loudly he protested. Shaun could feel the eyes watching him and it made his skin crawl and his breath pick up as he tried to calm down. He didn't need a therapist, he didn't need a therapist and he didn't understand how he wasn't getting through. The world felt big and small as he was crushed and stretched until he hit his breaking point. His hand met with flesh and suddenly the world was too white and too bright and all he felt was an overwhelming need to get out as soon as possible. 

 

It was tranquil.

 

Sitting there in Lea's car with the Sun shining on his lap, Shaun felt calm. Lea had tired of talking about forty minutes ago and so they sat in a quiet that Shaun wasn't aware he so desperately needed. Lea's finger occasionally tapped on the steering wheel and in those instances she glanced at him with a soft, knowing smile. It was like she knew something that Shaun didn't, but he found that didn't bother him. She didn't want anything from him and he didn't feel the need to meet unreachable expectations. She just drove and he realized that he hadn't really been breathing properly for the past few weeks.

 

He was happy.


End file.
